Inside The Life Of A Consumer Addict

“Come on, Judi, can’t we get out of here?"

“Five more minutes, I promise."

“Mommy, I’m bored!"

“Five more minutes, really, I promise!"

“Mommy!"

“Ju-u-d-eeeeeee!"

“Ok, ok, I’m moving as fast as I can! Five more minutes, I promise!"

When I finally finish my grocery shopping, I find my husband and daughter sitting by the concession stand annoyed and bored. Ignoring them, I announce that I'm finally finished with all of the shopping and want to go home. My ‘five minutes’ turned into two hours and my family is irritated… I mean, re-e-e-ally irritated with me.

Do I blame them? No, not really, actually, when I shop, I annoy myself but I can’t help it. There’s so much to choose from with exciting new packaging and all the ‘newer and better’ items; I get confused with the many choices.

I should know better because advertising is my business and I understand branding but still…

Take our bathroom, for instance. There has to be at least twenty shampoo bottles lined up around our bathtub. Can I help it that each bottle is prettier than the other? Can I help it that one brand adds more body than the other yet another smells prettier? This really, I mean really, annoys my husband.

Blow dryers? Twenty years ago, there wasn’t very much to choose from but, today, well today we have a plethora of choices, which is why I have six blow dryers … even though I use only one.

Let’s not forget the curling irons. Revlon alone manufactures about twenty-five but then there’s Conair… no, I don’t have twenty-five curling irons, but I do have quite a few.

My problem is that I just can’t decide. For instance:

The cereal isle is quite a chore for sure. Who can blame me? General Mills, Post, Kellogg’s, Quaker Oats… I never can decide. When choosing toothpaste, I have been known to spend more than fifteen minutes alone in that isle. I like the packaging of Mentadent, but my husband is loyal to Crest. If I buy Crest should it be the plain tube or the dispenser or what about the ‘E-Z dispenser’?

Regular or the whitening but wait – it comes with mouthwash as well…. but then again Aim isn’t too bad and what about Colgate? Yes, maybe I should try Colgate, after all it does state that it is the ‘Number One Brand Recommended by Dentists’. My daughter prefers Spongebob but, then again, she also likes Mary Kay and Ashley’s brand. What to do? I’ll just have decide later and go to ‘an easier isle’, the laundry detergent isle.

Tide is the brand and that should be quick, but it never is. I always buy Tide Liquid with the original scent but, uh-oh, I never noticed Tide Liquid with the ‘clean breeze’ scent before, mmm… I’ll just take a little sniff… nice. Oh, what’s the 2X Tide? Never noticed that before either. Wait, Tide with a touch of Downy? I like that…. Tide Simple Pleasures? How nice… a little sniff… mmm… lavender, ve-e-ry nice. Febreeze Freshness? When did that happen? Oh, now I’m so confused, I’ll have to come back to this isle later.

Let’s see… I need some floor polish—that should be easy! Orange Glo Wood Floor Polish and Cleaner, there we go! Oh, wait; I never noticed Tide’s Floor and All-Purpose Cleaner before? Mr. Clean makes a floor polish for hard wood? Never noticed that… Oh, now Armstrong is supposed to be good, isn’t it? Let me just read this a minute. Ocado, never heard of that… mmm… let me check that out. Yikes, I’m running late, this isle will have to wait as well.

Bar soap. Now, where’s my brand... mmm... I see it, great! Oh, but I do like Tone, especially with the cocoa butter. But Caress’ packaging is so pretty. My husband likes Pure and Natural, nah…. Ivory is pure, why ‘it even floats in water’, but I’m allergic to it, so that’s out. What about Dove, the white bar could be ‘manly’ for hubby; I do like the shape of Dove. Lever 2000? Dial? Isn’t their tagline, “aren’t you glad you use Dial?" I just don’t know… I’ll come back to this isle later.

And so it goes. When it comes to grocery shopping, I spin and stagger in a maze of confusion. Although I do know better, with each new ad, each new product and each new jingle, I get sucked into the vacuum of consumerism. Inexplicably, this is the only area of my life where I remain out of control....

Maybe, this problem is all subconscious or…

…maybe, just maybe, I really hate grocery shopping as much as I hate to iron.

©2008 Judi Lake. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

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Judi Lynn Lake has kept up with leading edge business trends throughout her varied and successful career. She had already had her "15 minutes of fame" over and over again before starting her family. Judi and her family now reside in South Carolina, but, having been born and raised on Long Island, NY, it is clearly evident that she will always be a "New Yorker." Today, she successfully runs her own advertising agency which handles everything from logos, branding and package design while she continues to work closely with self-published authors from design to promotion. For more information, visit judilake.com